“I think that it’s wonderful that he did this. It takes a big man to admit this and I want to commend him for that. A
lot of people make mistakes, and for him to stand up and admit what he
has done in the past, I think it’s very admirable.

“As far as I’m concerned he has asked for forgiveness. He
has my forgiveness. If that’s all that stands in the way between him
being inducted into Cooperstown we should all forgive him. He didn’t commit murder. He didn’t commit robbery. He said he took steroids.”

McGwire offered a personal apology to Roger Maris’ widow too. While the family still understandably thinks that Roger should have the record, check out their response:

“He told her he had something to tell her – he just wanted her to
know the news was going to break and that he did do steroids,” Rich
Maris said. “He apologized to her, to my dad, to us kids. That speaks
volumes to the kind of guy he is . . . My mom was very touched by his call. She felt sorry for Mark – that
he’s going through this. She conveyed that we all make mistakes and
move on from there.”

“This [McGwire’s steroid use] is something we thought all along. It
wasn’t so much a surprise, but I feel bad for Mark. He’s a very genuine
guy and we’re close to him – we love him like a brother. I’m glad he
got it out.”

Anyone want to bet whether Aaron’s and the Maris family’s responses will shut up the moralizers in the media who claim to be defending the legacy of the home run hitters of yore? I don’t know about you, but I’m not holding my breath. Outrage is too fun to give up easily.